Æ23 - Septimius Severus ΝΕΙΚΑΕΩΝ ΤΩΝ ΕΝ ΚΙΛΒΙΑΝΩΝ

Nicaea Cilbianorum was a small inland community in the Lydian conventus of Ephesus — not to be confused with the far more prominent Nicaea in Bithynia. The city struck bronze civic coinage under Septimius Severus almost certainly as a gesture of loyalty following the civil wars of 193–197, when demonstrating allegiance to the eventual victor carried real municipal consequences. Cities that had backed Pescennius Niger or Clodius Albinus found Roman favor difficult to recover.

The ethnic ΝΕΙΚΑΕΩΝ ΤΩΝ ΕΝ ΚΙΛΒΙΑΝΩΝ distinguishes this issue from Bithynian Nicaea in the epigraphic record — a distinction the city clearly felt compelled to enforce.